Ring buoy

Abstract

This invention relates to a ring buoy (life preserver) consisting of a toroid or doughnut-shaped ring of a plastic foam, preferably but not necessarily of polystyrene foam, provided with an integral tough, wear-resistant and weather-resistant outer film of flexible strong material and having within the buoy near the outer circumference thereof within the material a continuous ring of strong, rigid material as iron, steel or other material having desirable weight characteristics. At spaced intervals indented in the outer edge of such ring are a plurality of regions, such as four, free of the buoy plastic material and providing access to such ring, whereby rope may be affixed to the ring buoy, this usually being required by rules and regulations governing the construction of such buoys and the use thereof on boats and marine facilities. By proper proportioning of the weight of the metal ring with respect to the weight of the plastic of the buoy, the entire construction may be endowed with highly desirable ballistic properties so that such a ring buoy may be handled and particularly thrown to spin or cause the buoy to spin during the flight thereof, such characteristics improving the ballistic properties of the entire buoy to permit the buoy to travel without being easily deflected by wind and imparting stability to the buoy while using light weight plastic for buoyancy. The entire buoy can have a smooth, unbroken surface, except for the recesses in the outer edge of the material. In addition, by utilizing synthetic rope material, recourse may be had to thermoplastic welding of the rope about exposed portions of the ring, thus facilitating the manufacture of the buoy without interfering with its safety and utility.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A ring buoy having a generally toroidal-shaped body substantially of plastic foam material having great buoyancy, said body when horizontally viewed showing in plan two concentric circles defining respectively the inner and outer body sides and the circle center defining the straight axis of the toroid body, the annular region between the concentric circles comprising the top face of the body, a transverse section of the ring body in a plane containing the straight toroid axis having a rounded shape, said body also having a bottom face, said body having a tough adherent plastic coating thereover, a metal ring in the body symmetrically between the top and bottom body faces and symmetrically within the outer body side and substantially closer to the outer body side than to the inner body side, said body having a plurality of shallow recesses inwardly from the outer body side at spaced angular intervals, each recess being so shaped and dimensioned as to expose a small length of ring, said ring length having sufficient free space around it to accommodate rope attachment thereto after buoy fabrication whereby the ballistic properties of the buoy are maximized and the shallowness of the recesses minimizes structural weakening. 
     
     
       2. The construction according to claim 1, wherein said body is substantially of molded low density polystyrene. 
     
     
       3. The construction according to claim 2, wherein said foam has a density of the order of from about 0.5 to about 1.5 lbs. per cubic foot. 
     
     
       4. The construction according to claim 2, wherein said polystyrene foam has at least a substantial portion thereof treated by transient compression to develop resilience therein for a substantial depth from the top and bottom faces of said body. 
     
     
       5. The construction according to claim 1, wherein said body has been subjected to transient compression sufficient to reduce the thickness of the material down to the order of at least about 1/2 of the original foam thickness, said foam after release from said compression recovering a substantial portion of its thickness with resilience and thereafter permitting limited compression and recovery in a direction between the top and bottom faces of the toroid. 
     
     
       6. The ring buoy construction according to claim 1, wherein a rope of synthetic thermoplastic fiber is threaded through the exposed ring portions, said rope being locked in place at ring portions by melting said rope material to weld the rope portions together to provide a permanent joint. 
     
     
       7. The construction according to claim 6, wherein the rope ends are welded together.